National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea When holding juldarigi (tug-of-war) in Gijisi-ri, Songak-eup, Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, the village was divided into two teams, those living close to the shore and the others). It was said that the village would see a good year for the crop when the “close-to-the-shore” group won the contest. The play was performed after Dangje (village ritual) in early March of a leap year in the lunar calendar. There are two theories about the origin of the tug-of-war held in this village. One says that the village looks like a fairy weaving and the movement of pulling a cloth being woven at both sides led to the tug-of-war, the other tells us that the local topography resembles a centipede and so villagers engaged in the tug-of-war using a rope that also looked like a centipede. The straw rope used in the tug-of-war is 50 – 60m long. The diameter of the main section of the rope, which is made each year, comes to more than 1m and if you sat down on it, your legs would not touch the ground. Many thinner straw ropes are tied to the main section for people to tug. The leaders of the two teams would stand on the main section of the rope to give necessary signals while farmers’ music is played joyously to cheer on the participants. After the contest is over, people take away pieces cut off the rope, as it is said that the water heated with a rope piece is a cure for backache or infertility. The event is a rite held to pray for a good harvest and to build a spirit of collaboration among the villagers.

South Korea 2015

National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea For the event, the village is divided into two teams: the East Team (symbolizing males) and the West Team (symbolizing females). The village will reportedly enjoy better harvest in the year if the West Team (females giving birth to children) wins. The tug-of-war is also called galjeon, which is associated with the use of arrowroot vines for the rope. The event had been handed down as a rite held in farming provinces south of the central area of the country. At present, it is performed as part of the March 1 Cultural Festival. The rope used for the event is 40 - 50m long. The diameter of the main section of the straw rope made in a year comes to larger than 1m; if you sit down on it, your legs do not touch the ground. Many thinner straw ropes are tied to the main section for people to tug. Each team makes its own rope, with the two ropes connected right before the event. The leaders of the two teams stand on the main section of the rope to give the necessary signals. Farmers’ music is played joyously to cheer for the people. The event is a rite held to pray for good harvest and build a spirit of collaboration among villagers based on the belief associated with dragon and snake.

South Korea 2015

National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea The making of tteok, or Korean rice cakes, begins by steaming and pounding rice powder or flours made from other grains. Grain powders can be boiled or grilled to make tteok as well. There is a time-old tradition in Korea of making and sharing a variety of types of rice cakes on occasions that mark important moments in life, such as the 100th day after birth, first birthdays, weddings, funerals, and death anniversaries, as well as on seasonal and national holidays such as Seollal (Lunar New Year), Jeongwol Daeboreum (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month), Dano (the fifteenth day of the fifth lunar month), and Chuseok (the autumn harvest celebration). Rice cakes are one of the fundamental offerings at traditional rites held at community, familial, or individual levels. Contemporary Koreans still celebrate important events such as the opening of a business or a move to a new house with rice cakes, actively transmitting this long-standing practice of tteok making and sharing. Tteok making and sharing remains an important part of Korean culture. Tteok serve as a medium for promoting solidarity among community members and symbolize sharing and consideration for others. The rice cakes used for particular ceremonies carry unique cultural meanings. It is estimated that the rice cake-making tradition in Korea dates back to ancient times, given that there are Bronze and Iron Age archaeological sites that have produced tteok steamers. Various documents from the Three Kingdoms and Goryeo Dynasty periods detail the rice cake-making practices of the era. During the Joseon Dynasty, the grains and cooking methods involved in tteok making diversified thanks to advances in agriculture and cooking. The practice of presenting rice cakes on a ritual table became further popularized. Koreans of the Joseon era, particularly aristocrats and members of the royal family, enjoyed a broader range of rice cakes with improved flavors. Local tteok-making traditions reflect the agricultural characteristics of each region. For example, residents of Gangwon-do Province, known for its production of potatoes and corn, have long been making potato and corn tteok. Since the volcanic island of Jeju does not offer a favorable environment for rice cultivation, people on this southernmost island in Korea have focused on the production of other staples such as azuki beans, buckwheat, and millet. There is a variety of tteok from Jeju that use these as the main ingredients. Western foods that entered Korea after the opening of ports in the late 19th century changed traditional Korean culinary practices, including tteok-making traditions. The spread of commercial mills contributed to a separation between the producers of tteok and consumers. Despite these changes over time, the tradition of tteok making and sharing is still actively practiced across the country with wide local variations. The rice cake tradition has been designated as National Intangible Heritage based on the following considerations: It is a time-old tradition that has been transmitted across the Korean Peninsula; its long history is evidenced in written records that date as far back as to the Three Kingdoms period; it holds great potential for research in such disciplines as anthropology and food/nutrition; it has widespread and unique local variations; and it is practiced by a large and vibrant body of communities encompassing professional producers, research centers, and individual families. As rice cake making is practiced and enjoyed by the entire nation, this element has entered the national heritage list without recognizing any specific individuals or groups as official holders.

A Sào Temple Festival takes place every year in two periods: the Spring Festival is held from the 9th to the 11th of the second lunar month; The Autumn Festival is held on the 20th day of the 8th lunar month. The festival is held to commemorate the merits of Hưng Đạo King Trần Quốc Tuấn. The place A Sào is associated with a touching and humane story about Trần Hưng Đạo's feelings for his war elephant bogged down by the Hóa River wharf. This is one of the largest festivals in the region. On the opening day of the festival, the procession takes place from the villages to Tượng wharf and then to A Sào temple. The procession symbolizes the victorious army of Hưng Đạo King Trần Quốc Tuấn returning to A Sào in the bustling sound of drums and gongs, recreating a heroic period in the history of the Vietnamese people. According to ancient rules, all rituals in this festival follow national rituals. The court often sent mandarins to perform rituals and often had round sticky rice cake- a type of cake that people in the area wrapped thousands of pieces as food for the army crossing the Hóa River to fight the enemy in the past. Therefore, round sticky rice cake is a typical offering that people offer to Saint Trần. Two typical performances of the A Sàoo temple festival are earthen firecrackers and word scissors dance. These two performances are the two customs of the festival. The custom of clay cannons is associated with the legend that when King Hưng Đạo's war elephant got bogged down at the riverbank, the villagers threw dirt into the river to give the elephant a place to escape. The Word Scissor Dance is associated with the soldier training ritual of the Tran Dynasty generals, a simplification of the Bat Dat dance - an ancient court dance. These two performances also bear the mark of agricultural beliefs - praying for rain and harvest of wet rice farming residents. Within the framework of the festival, many performing arts and folk games are organized such as Chèo singing, Văn singing, wrestling, swimming, round sticky rice cake pounding competition, etc.

The festival commonly known as Prew is celebrated in the Kurtoe region under Lhuentse Dzongkhag. Originally it was called Treu-choed, or “Monkey Month Offering,” but later became popularly known as Prew. The name Treu is derived from the year of birth of Guru Rinpoche (Skt. Padmasambhava), as he was born in the year of the monkey in the eighth century. The word Choed means "offering." The Prew festival of Kurtoe is associated with Guru Rinpoche, he visited Jasabe village via the hidden land of Baeyul Khenpajong and gave his blessings to the locals. Since then, they have been celebrating this festival out of gratitude to him for the blessings he gave them and their whole community. They also believe that Prew is a festival to honor Guru Rinpoche’s birthday. This festival is celebrated in almost all Gewog village blocks of Lhuentse Dzongkhag or district. The community of Ney celebrates its local festival every year on the 10th day of the fourth lunar month according to the Bhutanese calendar. The festival takes place in the local Lhakhang, temple, in the center of the community, as well as in each individual house. The men often play games such as archery, while the women have a picnic. Prew is similarly celebrated in Jasabe Chiwog at Tergang Lhakhang. On the 9th day of the fourth lunar month of the Bhutanese calendar, people gather at the Lhakhang to perform a ritual and make offerings. The next day, the 10th day of the fourth lunar month, they return to their village with Norjan chants, and spend a day singing and dancing in their village. The festival in part indicates the arrival of the agricultural season. Villagers offer prayers and sacrifices for good health and a good harvest without pest infestations and natural disasters.

This is a very simple custom in which especially the young cowherds and enthusiastic adults of the village faithfully participate every year. It was considered a highly privileged holiday, a well-deserved break exclusively for young cowherds from their daily work. It is an old custom to visit the temple of Tsito Goen-pa once a year and offer butter lamps and prayers. For cowherds, it is a very important holiday or rather a sacred day when they can take time off from their daily work of herding cattle, especially cows. The Kar-mey or butter lamp offering at Tsitu Goen-pa Temple is held every year on the 15th day of the 7th month in the Bhutanese calendar. Tsitu Goen-pa is an ancient temple founded by Lam Lotoey Jamtsho. I have not been able to trace the history of the founder and the temple, but would recommend further research in the future, and I believe that some information is also kept in the temple in text or oral form by the guards and the administrator of the temple. Tsito Goen-pa is located on a hilltop, barely 40 minutes from the nearest highway, making it a pleasant walking route for tourists who also visit the temple to receive blessings. The temple is believed to house sacred relics, the unique remains of the skullcap of Lam (Spitirual master) Lotoey Jamtsho and the sacred Phurpa or ritual dagger believed to have flown from a place called Tosakha. It is shown to the public only on auspicious days or other important religious holidays. The government of Bhutan has been struggling with the problem of rural-urban migration since the early 1990s. The country is undergoing a rapid phase of development in which modernity is displacing tradition and culture, which are becoming less and less important. With rural roads connecting farmlands and easy and quick access to markets, agricultural trade has become very convenient, while at the same time the ancient culture of pilgrimage, backpacking and walking to visit a temple or monastery is rapidly losing its enthusiasm and importance. Villagers are looking for lucrative ways to farm and use modern techniques and equipment. Cowherds no longer have to go high into the mountains in search of fresh pasture for their cattle because a new way of feeding cows is being introduced that increases milk production. These are some examples that are pushing the ancient culture to the brink and gradually bringing it to extinction. The Tsito Goen-pa Kar-mey is no longer practiced because there are hardly any young shepherds left and they hardly need leave to visit the temple.

Vồng Communal House Festival is a "two-term spring-autumn festival" (January 15 and September 9, 10, 11). The main day of the festival is the full moon day of the first lunar month, held at Đình Vồng relic complex, Song Vân commune, Tân Yên district, Bắc Giang province, to commemorate the merits of Saint Cao Sơn - Qúy Minh and 18 dukes of the Dương family, Mạc dynasty. On the 15th, the Saint's ordained procession is organized to the communal house. At the head of the procession is a person playing a minister. When the procession arrives at the communal house, a ceremony is held. The custom of offering a horse to carry the duke's color to the communal house to worship together is a special ritual. Vồng Communal Horse Sacrifice Ceremony: In the past, during the horse sacrifice ceremony, the knights rode 8 white horses at a leisurely and beautiful trot; Today, the organizing committee prepares 8 horses' heads (woven from bamboo, decorated with colored paper) for 8 young people to wear while running. The sowing ceremony to pray for good fortune is held in front of the communal houseyard. After the ceremony, the referee raised the ball high and commanded the boys with the East and West stripes to start the battle. After the offerings, there is an incense offering ceremony by the people in the village and visitors. The festival has many traditional games, attracting a large number of participants and ancient ones such as wrestling, martial arts dancing, horse racing, archery, crossbow shooting, fighting, cockfighting, kite flying, rice blowing competition, and word running, etc. These are all games that demonstrate the martial spirit and seasonal characteristics of agricultural residents.

Sử giề pà in the Bố Y language means giving thanks to the Buffalo God, held on the 8th day of the fourth lunar month. On this day, all buffaloes can rest and bathe; being cared for, treated with kindness, and fed sticky rice and eggs. The story of Tết is explained in legend. The production process changed from "poking holes to insert seeds" to using buffalo traction. This is a milestone marking an important step forward in the agricultural production of the Bố Y people in the past. This is the time for the whole community to rest and have fun. They also invited their ethnic neighbors such as the Hmông, Nùng, Pa Di, etc. to visit the house and dine with the homeowner to celebrate. Before Tết, representatives of each household gather at the village head's house to discuss and prepare for the festival. Offerings to ancestors include 1 boiled chicken, 3 bowls of white rice, 3 bowls of colored sticky rice, 1 red boiled egg, 3 pairs of chopsticks, 3 cups of wine, 3 incense sticks, votive paper, and 1 buffalo made of seven sticky rice color. Offerings at the local altar include 1 bowl of rice, 1 bowl of meat, 1 cup of wine. After the offering, people bring a handful of sticky rice, a red-boiled egg, and young grass to invite the buffalo to eat first. After the buffalo eats, it is the person's turn to enjoy the ceremony. The village's offering tray includes a buffalo head made of seven-colored sticky rice, and three eggs dyed red placed on top. The ritual is performed at a shrine to the local god in the forest at the beginning of the village. The offering ceremony is divided into two times, offering live chicken and offering cooked chicken. After the ceremony, families will receive blessings to receive divine protection and strength. The story "The magic buffalo helps the Bố Y people" is re-enacted by a couple: the magic buffalo came down from heaven to earth to help the ancestors of the Bố Y people find water, plow fields, work in wet fields, grow wet rice, etc. The festival part including folk arts activities such as lovemaking singing, cotton singing, nursery rhyme singing, and folk games such as playing conch, swinging, and tickling.

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock and over centuries, rise in agricultural has contributed in the growth civilization. Early people have developed and improved varieties of plants and till date the practice is considered to be the important aspect of Bhutanese livelihood. It is one of the sources of income as over69% of the population here, directly depends on it for their livelihood (MoAF, 2011). In 2011, agriculture sector accounted for about 17.7% of the total GDP of the country (RNR Statistics, 2012) Asham (Maize) plays a critical role in the entire life of given economy and is a pre-dominant cereal crop for the eastern part of the Bhutan for many years contributing to more than half of total maize production in the country. Asham cultivation was one of the main cereal as well as cash crops that supported and supports lively hood for major households in the part of the country. To these days, the practice and culture of maize cultivation is one of the main live hood and sources of income. Most communities in the eastern part of the country depend on cultivation of Asham to produce following products: •\tKharang- grits, grind maize used as staple food •\tAsham me-gogni- roasted corn •\tAsham bokpi- corn flour •\tTengma- roasted and pounded maize •\tAsham mu-nang- a local term for popcorn •\tZhu- brewed alcohol Apart from above products, asham is also used as cereals for bartering during the olden days to exchange with wooden and bamboo products produced from other parts of the Dzongkhags. Moreover people also used to exchange with rice, chili, meat and dairy products within or outside the community. People used to offer asham, kharang and bokpi to monks and gomchen(great meditation masters) as they visit begging for cash and kind. Asham and its product were also used during the religious rituals at households. Crafting of Torma (Sacrificial ritual cakes) and Sur (Smoke offering) during the rituals were done by using corn flour. There has been lots of transformation in the culture, practice and process in cultivation maize in the region due to introduction of hybrid seeds, improve in tools and technologies used compared to old and traditional ways of cultivation.

Ancient Chinese divided the circle of the annual motion of the sun into 24 equal segments; each segment was called a “jie qi” or solar term. Hence the 24 segments are collectively called the Twenty-four Solar Terms. This system of time embodies the traditional knowledge and the social practices through which Chinese organize their perception of the regularity of seasons, of astronomical laws and of other local natural phenomena occurring in the course of the year. It is an indispensable component of the traditional Chinese calendrics and its living applications, serving as a time-frame for agricultural activities and daily life. In International circle of meteorology, this cognitive system has been honored as the Fifth Great Invention of China. Transmitted through generations, the element has profoundly influenced Chinese people’s way of thinking and code of conduct. Upon a specific solar term, people spontaneously arrange farming and daily routine as well as basic necessities of life. Thus this knowledge continuum of time is sustained through a variety of ritual practices and folk activities. Thereby the Twenty-four Solar Terms is an important carrier of Chinese cultural identity.

China 2016

Inscribed in 2015 (10.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Tugging rituals and games of Vietnam have different characteristics, meanings and rules. The element is held as part of village festivals in Spring, a form for communities to pray for abundant harvests and prosperity, marking the start of a new agricultural cycle. Tugging game symbolizes the power of natural forces like the sun, water source that influence the harvests. In some localities, tugging game is associated with the legends of worshiped heroes for their merit in reclaiming the land, fighting against foreign invaders, protecting prosperous life of the people. It is usually held at the communal houses or temples after the rirual of commemoration of local guardian deities finished. The material used for tugging varies from region to region, reflecting the ecological and cultural context of each community, it can be made of bamboo, rattan stems, or ropes. The procedure for selecting teams or players is in accordance to the ritual rules, and the winning or losing team is regulated by customs to express certain religious meanings and the harmony of nature. Nowadays, tugging rituals and games are popularly known as a folk game that is entertaining, sporty and collective.

Cambodia,South Korea,Philippines,Viet Nam 2015

Đào Xá Festival, also known as the elephant procession festival, is held for 3 days, from January 27 to 29, of which the 28th is the main festival day to honor the merits of Tutelary God - Đức Thánh Phụ Hùng Hải Công in teaching people to control water, cultivate, raise livestock, and build prosperous villages. The ritual includes the procession of elephants, incense altars, precious dragons, tablets, royal coffins, and worship of Tutelary God. "Mr. Elephant" is a typical feature of the festival with the shape, size, and color of a real elephant, with very vivid legs, tusks, trunk, ears, and eyes. The festival is organized with many folk games such as wrestling, robbing chickens, fetching water, pounding rice, and competing in fire-making... The festival reflects historical values, cultural activities, agricultural beliefs in wet rice farming, and water god worship of the residents of Phú Thọ. This is an occasion for local people to remember their ancestors who built the country and villages, pray for blessings, good luck, favorable weather, good crops, peace for the people and prosperity of the country.